No Glove, No Love

By Morgan Carvajal

When in darkness and in doubt, take another condom out.

Hoping to bring awareness to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unwanted pregnancy, National Condom Week celebrates its 23rd year with a coinciding condom slogan contest Feb. 14–21. The San Rafael-based Pharmacists Planning Services Inc. (PPSI), a California nonprofit corporation, offers a variety of health awareness programs to help educate the public.

When you rise, condomize.

Contest participants are given a shot to come up with a unique tagline for future condom weeks. Captain Condom is the newly featured contest this February, and participants will receive three free condoms just for entering. An entry can include a condom slogan, film clip, original artwork or just about anything creative. The rules are simple: Send in any condom- or contraceptive-related ad, and win a prize.

If you really love her, wear a cover.

PPSI will choose the winning entries, which will be printed on T-shirts and/or featured on radio or television stations around the country. The grand prizewinner will receive a gross of condoms and will be awarded during April's STD Awareness Month.

Don't make a mistake, cover your snake.

National Condom Week was started by Karen Hughes and David Mayer at UC Berkeley in 1978, and has since become a channel to help inform and educate students on some 650 college campuses. More than 1 million condoms have been given out throughout the nation since the program's inception.

Love ain't free when you pay with an STD.

Over 40,000 HIV infections are reported in the United States each year, and 12 million Americans are affected by STDs, making campaigns like this one stand out on campuses and in local communities.

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Before you penetrate, hide your magistrate.

"There continues to be an unnecessary rise in unwanted pregnancies and cases of sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis," says Fred Mayer, president of PPSI. "Highlighting the importance of condom use is an urgent public health priority. We must continually alert and educate the public regarding safe sex protection."

Don't be a fool, wrap your tool.

Ever increasing statistics about AIDS, STDs and unwanted pregnancy make National Condom Week a widely supported program. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 600,000 Californians have an STD. Send contest entries to: PPSI/NCW, PO Box 076, San Rafael, CA 94903-0760.